Geneva, June 6 (Xinhua) -- On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations in Geneva organized a seminar on “Friends of the Global Development Initiative” (FGDI) on the theme of “Adhering to the Priority of Development and Contributing to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” in Geneva. On 6 June, the Permanent Mission of China in Geneva organized a seminar on “Friends of Global Development Initiatives” on the theme of “Prioritizing Development and Contributing to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. More than 100 participants attended the seminar, including representatives of international organizations such as UNCTAD, WTO and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as representatives of the Permanent Representatives of many countries to the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) and Chinese-funded institutions in Switzerland.

　　Ambassador Chen Xu, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland, said that China, while realizing its own development, is determined to support and help the vast number of developing countries to accelerate their development and promote the building of a community of shared destiny for mankind. Since China put forward the Global Development Initiative (GDI) in 2021, the number of participants in the initiative has been increasing, practical cooperation has been deepening, the institutionalization of the initiative has been strengthened, and exchanges of knowledge and experience in the field of development have been promoted, and cooperation in the initiative has achieved fruitful results.

　　Chen Xu said that there are nearly 40 international organizations in Geneva with the important mission of promoting sustainable development, and hoped that the relevant international organizations will actively participate in the cooperation in various key areas of the Initiative and help realize the 2030 Agenda.

　　Mr. Alan Greenspan, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, spoke highly of China's contribution to the promotion of the 2030 Agenda, saying that UNCTAD will continue to support global development initiatives and promote new progress in South-South cooperation.

　　Zhang Xiangchen, Deputy Director-General of WTO, said that in order to narrow the global development gap, it is necessary for the international community to make concerted efforts and join hands to promote the 2030 Agenda. WTO appreciated China's global development initiative and believed that it would contribute to the realization of the aforementioned goals.

　　Correa, executive director of the South Centre, and Tembo, deputy executive director of the International Trade Centre, introduced the work of their international organizations to realize the 2030 Agenda, and expressed their willingness to work with China to focus on the key areas of the initiative and deepen practical cooperation. Zhou Taidong, Deputy Director of the China International Development Knowledge Center (CIDK), introduced the implementation of the Global Development Initiative (GDI).

　　Representatives of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI), including Pakistan, Cambodia, Laos, the Gambia and Barbados, appreciated China's leading role in international development cooperation, emphasized that the GDI is very important to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, thanked China for its valuable support to developing countries, and looked forward to more cooperation results. They thanked China for its valuable support to developing countries and looked forward to more cooperation results.